Suede: The Truth Behind The Split

Suede have announced they are to split up after one last farewell tour of Britain.

Last week it was confirmed that the band, who shot into the spotlight in 1992 via a sensational Melody Maker cover declaring them “The Best New Band In Britain”, work on “individual projects” from 2004. But in one last tease to fans they haven’t ruled out the possibility of reforming in the future.

Singer Brett Anderson issued a statement via his official website, which read: “This decision was based purely on creative reason. Personally I feel that the only way to escape the artistic dead end I have found myself in is so work at least for a while outside the band. There has been speculation about record sales and chart position, but the bottom line is I NEED TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET MY DEMON BACK.”

“You should all know that we will remain good friends and that I can genuinely see us working together again. What we have done has been too special to just throw away.”

We understands the decision was made by Brett during a series of emotional conversations with the rest of the band. Insider claim the disillusioned singer has been considering putting an end to the band for some time.

“Things came to a head when they were asked to do some promotional appearances,” a source told us. “Time have changed and the band feel out of step at the moment. Also, the hits compilation ‘Singles’ was the last album of their current record deal.”

Although cynics maintain Suede never recovered from the departure of Bernard Butler in 1994, the first real hint of the band’s disintegration can be traced back to the recording of 1999’s ‘Head Music’.

“I hadn’t told anyone we were having any problems and I went out to (see) some friends and it totally hit me that I wasn’t enjoying a single moment,” bassist Mat Osman said of recording. “I just thought, ‘I’m gonna see how the tour goes, see whether it works, but I’m not doing this again. There’s no point in doing this again because it should either be great music or it should be fun.’ By the end of it… I was thinking, ‘This isn’t very good.'”

But do it again they did, spending three years to write and record the follow-up. ‘A New Morning‘, the band’s last studio album, came out in 2002 and was a commercial flop by their standards, reaching number 24. Their previous album had all hit the Top Three.

“We were shocked and horrified,” Brett said. “I couldn’t believe it, and just couldn’t work out what happened.”

“I think it’s got a couple of great moments, but I think it’s weak,” he reflected. “Writing the album, I’m not sure I was at my sharpest mentally. I don’t think it was extreme enough. I think it maybe would’ve been better and much cooler if it had just been an album of acoustic songs.”

Osman added: “We knew it was out of step with the times. I don’t think any of us were expecting it to be Number One, but we weren’t expecting it to do that badly.”

However, there were signs of a relative recovery this year. Off the back of a Glastonbury appearance their single ‘Attitude‘ was a hit, although the greatest hits album it was promoting stumbled in the charts too.

However, those close to the band aren’t so sure. “While it’s not out of the question, I just can’t see it.” a band insider told “But then Brett’s been nice about Bernard in interviews recently. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed.”